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Where do you even begin to unwrap that pair of results? The NRL won and the NRLW loss but there was so much chaos in between as the both games went down to the wire. We had Trainergate 2.0 – Eelectric Boogaloo. We had controversial calls. We had a b-e-a-utiful game winning field goal from Mitchell Moses. We had the Bunker having to save a terrible missed call at the end of the game. If you enjoy drama the NRL fixture was just the right hit for you as the Eels prevailed by a solitary point to climb to 13th on the ladder.
In the NRLW the Eels will be left to rue a game that well and truly slipped through their hands and with it – the chance to leapfrog the Cowboys on the ladder. The Tip Sheet also delves into more chaotic results in the lower grades with the Jersey Flegg and NSW Cup also posting madness induced victories in an all round crazy weekend.
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Let’s not blame the trainers, they are doing what they are allowed to get away with.
Blame the weak NRL head office.
Trainers on the field rank only second to the bunkers incompetence in problems the NRL just have to address urgently.
As one commentator said .. what are they doing on the field ???
This current rule about the trainer’s only able to come on 3 times etc etc.. why make it so bloody complicated ???
I understand the fact that the NRL must allow players to hydrate but what’s the problem with having the player move to the sideline to rehydrate when play breaks down ?
Having trainers coaching players where to stand in the defensive line just shows the NRLs incompetence.
Personally I reckon fox may have come close to scoring if that ball hadn’t hit the trainer yet on the very next play both the yellow shirt and the blue shirt trainers were out there !!
Typical NRL . It’s too hard so leave it.
Yeah I was gobsmacked about that trainer. He really copped from the crowd too. The NRL is showing yet again how incompetent they are by buying their head in the sand here. We’ve had at least 2 episodes over the past couple of weeks where the trainer has affected the game, and Parra fans well know that they have been on the wrong side of trainers for years. As I see it, that team needs to be penalised when that happens, and the trainer/club fined. It’s unprofessional and simply not good enough for an elite sport. If players can’t stay on the field with assistance, then they need to come off simple as that.
We also saw in the NRLW that apparently you can hold onto the tackled player, pushing them down so that they fumble the ball when trying to get up and play it. That was an appalling decision, which even got got reviewed and still the wrong result.
Many issues with the game at the moment. Are we going to finally see some action from the NRL on these? I’m not going to hold my breath.
What you don’t understand Longfin is that Parra-doesn’t-matter to NRL.
Just look at NRL, JAC clipped around chin, potential 8 point try, but nothing to see there and Da Silva, towards end of game, cops double head hit and even commentators say accidental and not worth penalty! Compare that with soft penalties given to other teams when an arm comes anywhere near head. Complete double standards.
100% Glenn..the first penalty against Hopgood, the reason is unclear, wasn’t put on the TV screen. It appeared to be a marker penalty where the Cowboys player stepped to one side and left Hopgood in no man’s land…but then Ch9 showed Hopgood making a high tackle which was a chopping down action at the shoulder/neck area, if that was the penalty then the DaSilva one was 110% a penalty, it was clear contact to the head, they just didn’t like his Academy Award play. Then the second Hopgood penalty was called by the touchie, the replay clearly showed Hess trying to get a quick play the ball, lurching forward and his hand glancing Hopgoods leg and losing the ball, there was no play at the ball by Hopgood, sometimes you see the marker trying to interfere with a forward movement , there was no intent here. Hess was careless but got rewarded.
Yeah I know. The NRL knows that Eels fans will continue to turn up and watch the game regardless of whether we win or not. They don’t want us to take the place of a team who’s fans stop turning up when they start losing.
Looking at the crowd figures from yesterday though, maybe Parra fans are starting to switch off finally. 11,500 is not a bad crowd, but by our standards there probably should have been more people there. The weather wasn’t great, but there were plenty of dry seats in the stadium. If we get back to our winning ways, we could get 20,000 every game and fill the stadium regularly. Why wouldn’t the NRL want to see that? Are they afraid of the monster that could unleash? It’s baffling really.
It was some of the worst officiating I’ve ever seen. And maybe someone can explain the mutual infringement rule in the trainergate situation. How does a Cowboys trainer being hit by a loose Cowboys pass and interfering with a potential Eels try result in possession to the Cows?
You have to go back to the days of Keith Holman to find a refereeing performance as bad as that. I’m sure he’s a nice young man, doing his best but some of his rulings were simply unbelievable. They were in danger of affecting the result. Just plain not up to it.
A game of some frustration tbh but I also say the Cows played some strong and well directed footy.
We lapsed partly in the second half and gave them two tries in a blink of an eye.
Some poor defence reads and throw in some strange calls too and then Addo Carr; I was there and almost choked.
And then the no try – we all saw that live and knew it wasn’t a try. But hey the refs we have seem afraid at times to make a call.
I thought we had some good plays from Moretti and carries from Junior.
We missed Ryley at times and I also thought The Fox had a decent game barring that last non catch
TdS will hopefully learn from some things. He’s young
TDS will benefit greatly from a Parra preseason.
The result was never in doubt. And like everyone else I was cool and collected during the final five minutes. Parra at times seemed to have points coming but to their credit, the Cowboys kept coming with a bit of luck from the footy gods at times. A win is still a good thing so go Parra!
The cows completion rate was insane.
That obstruction was without doubt the textbook example of a lead runner obstructing a defender.
My jaw hit the floor when Kennedy awarded the try. There is no way in any universe that should have been sent up there as a try and for his incompence he should be dropped next week.
It just couldn’t be any clearer.
As for the game, there were so many near misses.
Fox almost got away 3 or 4 times. In any other game, Ryley Smith would have scored.
I know Ryles wants to continue with Dylan Brown in the centres but Simmonson does have a case here. Simonsson was poor against the Raiders but Brown was non existent today.
Can you remember a high profile player falling off a cliff like Dylan Brown has ??
We deserved the win.
Except the obstruction was given because Clifford caught the ball on Nanai’s inside shoulder, not for Nanai running into Moses. There was no way from his angle the ref could’ve seen that. It was a clear obstruction, but the ref was not in a position to see it clearly.
The on field referee has two touch judges and a referee coach in his ear to assist him in making the correct decision and that’s before the referral to the bunker.
I usually give the on field official a lot of latitude but that was poor.
Sorry Brett. I was sitting on the sideline on the 30m line up the other end and with my untrained eyes I could see it was an obstruction. For a trained professional to not believe that was an obstruction shows they do not know what is and isn’t an obstruction. The referees are partly to blame but so are the NRL what is and isn’t an obstruction is changed every single off-season
I thought Brown’s defence was outstanding.
Lets face it. It was an ordinary performance and a minor step backwards. At a time when results don’t matter, you just want to see growth and did we really see it? A few less errors, but a lot less pressure from the Cows who were pretty average.
Defensively, we didn’t force an error, The opposition offered up very little with 1 offload through the first 70 minutes and I reckon the number of times they shifted the ball more than 2 passes would have been less than 10. We should have run up a score on them.
We can whinge about refs and trainers all we like, but that lacked continuity throughout and gave away some dumb penalties (looking at you Lomax and Hopgood). You would get a good kick return from Lomax, then Penisini and JAC would go side ways. It took 25 minutes before we competed for an attacking kick. Full sets in the red zone where we didn’t shift the ball. Jack Williams kicking on the second tackle and TDS looked like he had never played football, much less played with this team.
Moretti – his best game by some way. I would need to see it again and decent opposition. Other than his dumb penalties, Hopgood was very good as well on both sides of the ball.
TDS. He may have a higher upside, but explain to me how he is any better than Brendan Hands? Its slow service, its inconsistent. Its not good enough. And to clutch his head like that. It was embarrassing.
Joash – had a decent game. Not going to grab all the bombs, so was happy with that side of his game. I have said I hate his no look pass. The intercept wasn’t good. His chase was worse. The only player not in the defensive line on the next play when Burns scored.
I’d rather be us than the Cows, and while fewer errors were good, I can’t imagine Ryles was thrilled with that.
Brendan hands, you are kidding yourself
Tds has been very good. Just this game he faltered. Why do you think 5 clubs were after him?
TDS hasn’t been very good. That isn’t subjective. He has been ordinary. Chooses random times to run and his service is poor. I am happy to give him time but the guy had tickets on himself at the Tigers so you better step up when that is the case.
Hands isn’t fancy, but at least he can get the ball to the halfback. We let Hands go and we have signed this guy for what, 4 years!? I have never watched TDS play lower grades so there would want to be a lot of upside because yesterday was just the basic fundamentals of the game that he couldn’t execute – repeatedly. I hope there is upside i really do, or this could turn into another MON special that we have wrapped around our salary cap neck for 4 more years
Hands was let go because from the start of this season he decided he was not going to put his body on the line in defence.
TDS is going to be a special player.
Had a rough day yesterday but he has a X factor about him and a confidence that will make him an elite hooker.
He has speed and confidence can’t wait to see where he is at in 3 years.
BAS – TDS has been a recognised star on the rise by selectors of elite junior sides, and by clubs seeking his services. I agree that he’s had some issues since arriving at Parra. A couple of selfish and ordinary plays vs Cows will look ugly in the video review. A preseason learning his team mates, plays and systems will make the world of difference.
Having watched Nathan Brown work with the dummy halves in the preseason, I can assure you he puts the onus on them to learn about their team mates and their preferences for where they receive the ball.
Growth is almost always two steps forward, one step back. The Cowboys weee up for it yesterday. Anybody can beat anybody in this league, particularly this year. There is a lot of parity this season.
Tks men. The Cows completed above 90%, made only 5 errors, their forwards competed hard (Hess played Origin level), they started strong assisted by early penalties, and maintained fast line speed (not put off by a few penalties). And we managed to win the game, not pretty but not a fluke either. Somewhere we must have been good.
Just on the NRLW, would like to know if their training sessions and match days are looking the same? Once again I didn’t see any red zone attacking formations that might cause a doubt or wrong call by defenders when we have players capable of capitalising. In the Sharks v Dragons NRLW, the Sharks threw a formation at the Dragons that fooled me as well (probably easy) I don’t think they made it up on the day.
Strangely I think our attacking formations looked better without Moses. Maybe he needs time with the new structures but we were a lot more one out today.
Cowboys with multiple Origin or international players. Played the perfect wet weather game Run it straight up the middle and hang onto the ball. They completed 95% in the greasy conditions. They made big meters with their big middles not going sideways. Our errors/penalties kept them in the game.
On a dryer track we would have put points on but in greasy conditions you have to be realistic. We won ugly!
Spot on!
On the trainer. It beggars belief that it can be play on!
If it happened to a top 4 team we’d have huge outrage.But silence.
Now Panthers trainers will be extra defensive players in red zone or maybe running into the ball to stop a 40/20 or a grubber in goal.
What should have happened??
1. Scrum Eels feed bare minimum
2. Professional foul penalty
3. Professional foul penalty try
4. Play on ???? What the hell?
If Panthers trainer gets suspended and Panthers get $50k fine for disturbing a kicker. What should the Cowboys trainer get as he interfered with live play in a try scoring situation? All match officials should be fined and dropped.
This where the Chairman needs to write to head office and give them a blast.
In the 2019 grand final the ruling was based on the NRL’s “mutual infringement” rule, which states that when play is irregularly affected in the field of play, the referee restarts play with a scrum, with the attacking team (i.e., the team with territorial advantage) receiving the loose head and feed. Since the incident occurred in Canberra’s defensive half, the Roosters were awarded a scrum feed. This decision was deemed correct by former referee Bill Harrigan and other sources.
Not sure if the rule has changed since then.
Thanks McEel.
A scrum I could have lived with.
The trainer knocked the ball forward off his leg closer to the Cowboys player. That was blatant interference in an NRL game accident or not it doesn’t matter. What will they allow next?
We win and the pundits are still not happy. So whatt! We have played better and lost. Two more points off the bottom. Parra should make 24 points – maybe 26. Think of the positives – that great chase by Ryley Smith along with JAC to hunt down that winger. That was memorable but we keep focusing on the negatives. TDS should have a game in the reggies as a wake up call. The team is a work in progress but twenty matches back they were worse than worse.
Let’s at least enjoy the remaining few matches and look towards the improvement. Injuries and suspension have hurt us but we are actually now preparing for 2026. Better days are ahead – can we wait for it?
Thank God someone said it, so much negativity on this feed sometimes it’s hard to read. Yeah there were issues but guess what, we got the 2 points.
TDS had a poor game but he’s still eligible to play jersey flegg NEXT YEAR, there are gonna be issues but the eels of now are different to any team we’ve seen all year, mistakes were made but we defended them well and with energy.
Exactly Zero. I’m a bit stunned by the negativity. Look, I sat through the chaos at the stadium, but if I can’t walk away being happy with a win then maybe I should give it away. I’ll let Ryles address the stuff that has been raised here that we all saw. The team is a developing one, and heaven knows I’ve expressed my frustrations at the self inflicted losses. I’ll enjoy a win however it comes.
Hey sixties, I’ve commented, as you and others did, that the stats say the Cows win that game. So here’s that perfect example about the stats not always speaking the truth (I still believe, and have kept an eye on it, that they are right on most occasions, play sloppy, get beaten). A forensic review and summary would take more than my attention span can absorb, but the big picture is so revealing:
-fresh coaching
– improved roster (another forensic War and Peace)
– a sub section of roster…flat-minded, flat-footed passengers addressed
– improved system, attitude and execution towards defence
-improved leadership ( great example setters added)
If Todd Payten is puzzled why they lost, his analysis could start at the big picture.
1. The Cowboys were committed, played tough and their forwards were good.
2. The Parra boys played well. They were on top before a couple of errors (intercept and dropped bomb) led to tries for the Cows and gave them a big boost.
3. We had a lot of good players: Hopgood, Ryley, Moretti, Walker and Junior in the pack; Penisini, Papalii, Moses, Addo-Carr in the backs
4. The ref had a true shocker: no protection for the bomb catcher; gave a penalty for a clear dropped ball; missed a scuffle and a punch up etc etc
5. Parra showed a lot of heart and a lot of spirit. They will win more games this year.
My wife asked me last night “ what are the two fat guys saying about the game” 😂
Anyway
TDS will come good, he needs someone elite riding his ass like Moses- I just hope we don’t get to March 1 and we’re still trying out combinations in the spine
Iongi being out has thrown a bit of a spinner in the works
And, why am I blocked from TCT on X ?
Feels good to get a bit of distance from the spoon, not that Ryles was paying any attention to that (righteo)
Actually thought we played quite well barring a ten minute period in the second half. I think more credit has to go to how well the cowboys actually played. They completed high and we’re a lot more motivated then they have been in previous games.
Moses and walkers game management are vital for this side when they are both on the field we just look so much better. Hopgood is a high minute prop and could become a very good one at that. He does to much good defensive stuff to be able to focus on ball playing aswell he looks so much better in prop roll.
I really hope we persist with papalii in the team at some capacity his not the full package yet but you can see things in his game that when he gets more comfortable his going to be a serious player just need to be patient with him
I’m getting on the band wagon a bit late, but does anyone sincerely believe that, currently, da Silva is a better proposition for a tough NRL tussle than Lussick? I know what I think
It seems to me that Lussick is one of those players doomed to be under rated. He is not signed for next year.
I think we should clean that up straight away.
If you watched cup you would have see how bad Lussick was in defence. He’s yet another journey man that needs to be moved in.
Yer have to agree there on Lussick his such a plodder and only getting slower and older. Da Silva has much more of a future ahead of him
Da Silva is only 20 and if he wanted to could play flegg in 2026. Lussick has had an improved performance this year compared to the last few but still has slow service and poor lazy defence that he gets exposed for and is the reason he isn’t an NRL quality 9. Give da Silva a few preseasons under ryles and let him develop into an actual NRL player and he’ll be elite, just gotta let him grow up (literally)
I think a lot of people are being overly harsh on Tallyn. He’s come into a completely new system and he’ll have to learn how to play to this system but also find how he can bring his own style. One thing he never had at the tigers was a ball dominant half. In the juniors he was the go to creative player for the tigers and previous to that the magpies. He’ll learn and he’ll get better at it. An off-season with Moses and a few more video sessions and he’ll know that Mitchell gets the ball when he demands it.
Another one that will learn and get better is Papalii. I can see a footballer in him, as soon as he gets the ball the speed of the play picks up and the defence is forced to make a decision earlier rather than later. One thing that will come to him will be the timing of his final passes, he has a bit more time than he believes and that pass can be held onto a bit longer or sometimes not thrown at all.
With such a young team there’s so much room for growth and these 1 point and late game wins will eventually become comfortable wins and hopefully 3 converted try wins.
Ham,
All good points. TDS needs time in our system. I feel there is talent there. He deserved the spray from Moses. Hopefully they sit down during the week and go through those moments. It will be a good lesson for TDS.
No doubt there will be a lot of drills about passing the ball off the ground at dummy half this week instead of the one/two step technique. Once this happens we should see the true value of TDS to the team.
Ham I recall Reed Mahoney getting a couple of those sprays from Mitch in his time at the Eels. He learned from the experience.
It didn’t effect their relationship and they remain good friends.